"Know Your Rights!" - United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for indigenous adolescents

Yesterday was the official launch of a version of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples written
specifically for the use of indigenous adolescents. It is an
encouragement for them to know their rights and those of their
community.

“It is so much more youth-friendly, because it is visual,
didactic and contextual. When I first read the regular version of
the Declaration, I thought that what I was reading was made so as
not to make sense to me as a young person!” says Gabriele Papa,
from the Hawk clan of the Seneca tribe. Gabriele, a senior high
school student, is the secretary of the Salamanca High School
Model United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
(UNPFII) and one of the founding members of the Model UNFPII.

An event was organized at UNICEF’s headquarters at the occasion
of the release of the publication, gathering a panel of young and
passionate indigenous representatives from all over the world.
“What gets me motivated in working with other indigenous youth is
that it makes you feel you are not alone, but there are a lot of
us fighting for the same issues”, explains Gabriele. Dalí Ángel
Pérez, a young Zapotec Indian from Choapam Oaxaca in Mexico, adds
that "there are youth who come from the other end of the world,
but still we face the same problems".

Dalí is the Latin America focal point for the Global Indigenous
Youth Caucus and also coordinates a youth commission of
Mujeres Indígenas (Indigenous Women), participating in
workshops on the rights of indigenous children and adolescents,
and in the training of young human rights advocates. At the Latin
America level, as part of the Alianza de Mujeres Indígenas de
Centroamerica y México (Alliance for Indigenous Women of
Central America and Mexico), she has prompted the verbalization
and visibility of local and regional organizational work
processes of indigenous youth. In 2012 Dalí was awarded the
National Youth Award in the category of human rights, which is
the highest public recognition that the Mexican Government
provides to young Mexicans.

The only male on the panel, Tuomas Aslak Juuso, is president of
the National Finnish Sámi Youths (SSN) and was elected to the
Sámi parliament of Finland in 2008, where he at that time was its
youngest member in history. In 2012 Tuomas was selected as youth
representative of the Global Coordinating Group for the United
Nations World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. “We, as youths,
want to secure the possibility of reproducing our traditions.”

María Cecibel Cisneros asked herself what she can do as a young
person to put a stop to human rights violations and
discriminations perpetuated against her tribe that she was
constantly witnessing as a young indigenous leader from Huamanga
in Ayacucho, Peru. She is currently participating in the
International Indigenous Women’s Forum’s International Program on
Human Rights and International Advocacy Skills. “If we don’t know
where we come from, we don’t know where we are going, and that is
where the journey ends”.

Are there indigenous peoples in your country? What are the
challenges faced by the youth belonging to these communities?